BY CK Lam

Recently, I was invited to a cooking session at Tropical Spice Garden Cooking School in Teluk Bahang, Penang. The school offers cooking classes for Nyonya, Chinese, Malay and Indian cuisine and is set in a building surrounded by the lush Tropical Spice Garden.

Under the guidance of Pearly Kee, who is well-versed in Nyonya cooking, the participants and I gained some insight into Nyonya cuisine. We were handed recipe sheets for otak-otak and jiu hu char and Kee guided us through the two dishes.

Both recipes were simple. The jiu hu char had several ingredients put together, each with its unique flavour and texture. This stir-fried dish was so fresh and light and paired nicely with lettuce and sambal belacan.

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Tags: Chicken Meat, Chicken Stock, Chinese Mushroom, Chopped Garlic, Cooked Chicken, Cooking Classes, Cooking Lessons, Cooking Oil, Cooking School, Cuttlefish, Distinctive Aroma, Fried Vegetables, Indian Cuisine, Jiu Hu Char, Lettuce, Lone Grag Villa, Malaysian Cuisine, New Straits Times (Life & Times), Penang, Recipe Sheets, Sambal Belacan, Spice Garden, Teluk Bahang, Tropical Spice Garden Cooking School, Tsp Soya Sauce

BY CK Lam

Popiah are relatively popular in Penang with each hawker using their own distinctive choices of ingredients. The popiah sold by the Chinese comes laid with the basic sweet and chili sauce, fresh lettuce, stewed yambean, blanched bean sprouts and minced tofu (bean curd). Most of the fresh popiah are served with steaming gravy.

The popiah sold by Indians are also relatively different. Just like those prepared by the Chinese, they have the fresh popiah and those deep-fried spring roll. My personal favorite is from an Indian hawker whose motorcycle is his makeshift ‘stall’ parked inside One Corner Cafe and the mamak popiah seller beside the Penang General Hospital. Both stalls have its own distinctive taste.

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Tags: 2pm, Appetizer, Bean Curd, Bean Sprouts, Chili Sauce, Distinctive Choices, Distinctive Taste, General Hospital, Gravy, Hawker, Indian Popiah, Indian Spring, Indian Spring Roll, Jalan Bawasah, Laksa Soup, Lettuce, New Straits Times (Life & Times), New Straits Times (Life & Times), Onions, Penang, Penang General Hospital, Penang Hawker Food, Penang Plaza, Popiah, Snack Check, Spring Roll, Spring Rolls, Sweet Sauce, Tofu, Turmeric, Yellowish Color

Love Penang Assam Laksa topped with the pungent hae kor (prawn paste)? I am sure many Penangites and tourist alike love this Penang classic dish for its tangy and sourish taste. My crave for Assam Laksa would have me going all the way out to the Air Itam Market and at times visiting the stall in Gottlieb Road and Johor Road.

All the ingredients for Assam Laksa

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Tags: Air Itam, Air Itam Market, Array, Assam Laksa, Big Fish, Bui, Bunga Kantan, Business Hour, Classic Dish, Coffee Shop, Corner Coffee Shop, Cucumber, Delicacy, Favorite Place, Fish Ball, Fish Balls, Fish Flakes, Fish Meat, Fish Soup, Flower Bud, Fresh Fish, Frontage, Galangal, Going All The Way, Gottlieb, Gps, Hae, Hae Kor, Herbs, Johor, Lai, Laksa, Laksa Penang, Laksa Perak, Lemongrass, Lengkuas, Lettuce, Light Colour, Mint, Mint Leaves, Noodles, Onions, Penang, Penang Assam Laksa, Penang Food, Penang Hawker Food, Penang Laksa, Penang Restaurant, Perak, Perak Road, Pineapple, Prawn Paste, Red Chili, Restaurant Coffee, Rice Noodles, Rm2, Spicy Soup, Sum San Primary School, Sweetness, Tamarind

Cintra Street which starts after the junction of Kimberley Street leading all the way towards Chulia Street has numerous hawker food stalls and old sytle Chinese restaurants. Most of the food along this street is simply irresistible as they have been operating for a long time. In fact I did a Cintra Street food crawl review one year ago covering most of the food stalls along this street except missing out on this Yee Sang Kai Chok (fish/chicken porridge).

Steaming hot thick porridge

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Tags: Array, Bowl Of Porridge, Business Hour, Chicken Porridge, Chili Sauce, Chinese Restaurants, Chok, Chook, Cintra Street, Cintra Street Porridge, Coffee Shop, Crullers, Delicious Bowl, Fish, Fish Porridge, Food Corner, Food Outlets, Food Stalls, Fried Crullers, Fried Oil, Ginger, Hawker Food, Jiam, Kai, Kimberley, Kopitiam, Kwai, Lady Owner, Lettuce, Locals, Oyster Porridge, Penang Food, Penang Porridge, Rm4, Roadside Stall, Spring Onions, Steam, Street Food, Tasty Chicken, Tasty Dish, Thick Porridge, White Pepper, Yau Char Kwai

The strong aroma of the herbs, the sourness of the soup and the quality of our Penang prawn paste makes our Penang hawker food, the Assam Laksa so different from the others. There are many places around town that sells this noodle and the more well known Assam Laksa is from the stall beside the Ayer Itam Market.

A dish that tantalizes the taste buds

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Tags: Air Itam, Aroma, Array, Assam Laksa, Burma Road, Business Hour, Chili Padi, Condiment, Cucumber, Dish, Distinctive Flavor, Drizzle, Fish Soup, Fish Stock, Flake, Flower Bud, Galangal, Ginger, Hae, Herbs, Itam, Kek Lok Si, Kek Lok Si Temple, Lemongrass, Lengkuas, Lettuce, Lunch Hour, Makan Makan, Mint, Mint Leaves, Onion, Penang Hawker Food, Penang Laksa, Penang Restaurant, Photography, Plenty Of Fish, Pot, Pots, Prawn Paste, Red Chili, Rice Noodles, Tamarind, Taste Buds

Located in the bustling Cintra Street with many eateries, Sun Yoon Kee Seafood Restaurant is a nice restaurant to stop by for lunch and dinner. This chu char place serve great home cooked Chinese dishes.

Sun Yoon Kee Restaurant and its neighboring Sin Sun Vood kopitiam

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Tags: Amp, Array, Bladder, Business Hour, Cash Register, Chinese Cooking, Chinese Cuisine, Chinese Cuisines, Chinese Dishes, Cintra Street, Cooking, Cooking Seafood, Deep Fried Fish, Dinner Sun, Dish, Drizzle, Eateries, Egg, Fish Dish, Ginger, Golden Egg, Golden Money, Gravy, Hawker, Home Style, Kailan, Kopitiam, Lettuce, Location Sun, Map, Mosaic Pieces, Nice Restaurant, Old Charm, Penang, Penang Food, Penang Restaurant, Poh, Rice Noodle, Roast Pork, Seafood Restaurant, Soy Sauce, Spinach, Stomach, Sun, Sun Sun, Tau, Tofu, Vegetable Dish, Vood, Wok, Yam, Yoke, Yue

Looking back at the post, it seems like it has been a while since I blogged about Bak Kut Teh in Penang. I was recommended to try out a Bak Kut Teh stall in the folds of Jalan Terengganu recently. It was indeed a different style from the Penang local version. It is the Klang Bak Kut Teh!

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Tags: Amp, Array, Bean Curd, Business Hour, Chopped Garlic, Chuk, Compliment, Cuts Of Meat, Dark Soy Sauce, Different Cuts Of Meat, Different Style, Fats, Garlic, Hot, Hubby, Kut, Lean Meat, Lettuce, Oyster Sauce, Penang, Penang Food, Pi, Pig Intestines, Pig Stomach, Pig Trotter, Plain Rice, Pulau Pinang, Red Chili, Red Chilli, Side Dish, Side Dishes, Signature Dish, Smooth, Soy Sauce, Spare Parts, Spare Ribs, Spice Powder, Taste Buds, Terengganu, Vege, Vegetables

Penang has a number of Korean BBQ restaurants and lately we saw the arrival of Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant in our shores. The outlet opened in the middle of May, less than a month ago occupies two shoplots in Penang Bayan Point. Daorae operates by the motto ‘the customers is always right’, thus their main objective is to provide good services to their customers. We had a hearty meal there recently.

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Tags: Ample Car, Array, Assorted Vegetables, Authentic Taste, Baked Corn, Banchan, Bayam, Bayan, Bbq Items, Bbq Restaurants, Bean Paste, Bean Sprouts, Beef Ribs, Chili Sauce, Condiments, Corns, Cutlets, Daorae, Favorite Dish, Favourite Dish, Free Flow, Fresh Seafood, Fresh Vegetable, Gal, Galbi, Garlic, Garlic Sauce, Gas Stove, Ginseng, Grilled Meat, Head Chef, Hearty Meal, Heating Element, Kimchi, Korea, Korean Affair, Korean BBQ, Korean Bbq Restaurant, Korean Food, Korean Ginseng, Korean Soup, Lettuce, Main Objective, Odour, Pancake, Penang, Penang Korean Restaurant, Piece Of Meat, Pork Ribs, Radish, Restaurants, Seaweed Soup, Soy Sauce, Spicy Chili, Spicy Sauce, Steve Cho, Succulent Pork, Sweet Soy Sauce, Tea, Tofu Soup, Unpleasant Odour, Watermelon

*** Update:  Kozue has closed

Since Kozue’s opening in Penang Gurney Plaza in December last year, business in this modern and chic restaurant has been good; and has since developed a solid group of regular customers. My family have been to Kozue’s several times and have tasted many of its innovative fusion dishes which can be seen in my previous post.

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Tags: Agedashi Tofu, Appetizer, Aromatic Sauce, Array, Black Sesame, Boneless Chicken Wings, Bonito Flakes, Chewy, Chic Decor, Chic Restaurant, Chicken Wings, Chinese Way, Chopped Spring Onions, Cod Roe, Creative Dishes, Crumbs, Daikon, Eel, Egg Roll, Favorite Dish, Feature Writer, Fried Rice, Friend Sarah, Garnish, Good Combination, Great Desserts, Green Tea, Gurn, Gurney Plaza, Gyoza, Halfs, Harumaki, High Chairs, Home Cooking, Home Style, Hot Dessert, Japane, Japanese Dishes, Japanese Food, Japanese Method, Japanese Restaurant, Kuro, Kwong Hwa, Kwong Hwa Daily, Kwong Wah, Lettuce, Lotus Root, Lunch Prices, Manageress, Mayonnaise Sauce, Mui, Newspaper Article, Ooi, Paneling, Penang Gurney Plaza, Pig Stomach, Plaza Gurney, Prefered Choice, Private Room, Red Beans, Rice Paper, Rich Gravy, Rm5, Rm6, Rm7, Salmon Roe, Sarah Lim, Sauce Mayonnaise, Sauce Mixture, Savoury, Seaweed, Sesame Seed, Set Lunch, Shitake Mushrooms, Side Dishes, Sittings, Solid Group, Specia, Style Dish, Style Dishes, Sweet Sauce, Tea Lovers, Teriyaki, Thin Layer, Time Sampling, Tofu Dish, Types Of Fish, White Radish, Yit